Bike arrived damaged. Can you comment?

Hi All,

First time poster. Please look at this and tell me what you think. I have never had to pack a bike so I'm not an expert on how they should have done it. I certainly don't think this was right. I paid $75 for packing and shipping.

From what I can see (I didn't examine every shot), it looks like superficial, cosmetic damage, nothing that will affect performance. I don't blame you for being pissed, but I don't know if I'd bother to make much of an issue of it.
Is the bike new or used? If it's used, i think you get what you get--the seller should have disclosed, but he didn't, and you have no proof you didn't damage the bike in your first ride, or that the shipping company didn't ding it (they'll claim they got it that way from the shipper, who'll claim it was perfect when he taped up the box).
If it's new from a dealer, you may have better luck. But most of my bikes have equivalent damage after a few months of use. As Grant Petersen of Rivendell said years ago, "It's a piece of outdoor equpment. It's going to get scratched."

I would explode if I got a bike damaged no matter how much I paid. It is obviously not your fault and you should not have to accept it. I would definitely try to get a refund or an exchange. If you paid with your credit card, then you should be protected. I would call them first! ASAP.

Well, it could have been packed better obviously, but isn't this one of the main reasons NOT to buy a bike over the internet?

I think this is what can happen when you buy a bike over the net and get it shipped. Buy local.

That's kind of a crazy thing to say. I collect vintage Stumpjumpers. The supply of old Stumpy's in NE Ohio is virtually none. I have to buy online and so do most collectors. We depend on sellers packing our purchases correctly. Purchasing local isn't an option.

The only thing I'd trust UPS with would be a large box - marked FRAGILE! - full of high-explosives. They have ruined so many shipments that I won't do business with firms that don't offer another choice of shippers.

During the time that I owned my own bike shop I had over 1,000 bikes shipped to me via UPS. Know how many damage claims I had? Zero, Zip, Nada, Not-a-One. There is a reason for every little bit and piece of packing the factories use when they pack new bikes. Leave off any of it and take your chances.

I suspect it was packaged as well as a new bike is packaged, assuming it had protection against the dropouts gerring crushed...

I suspect that people that ship bikes do a lot more "extras" in packaging than the manufacturers. I received a bike used that took me an hour to get all of the wrap and stuff off of it. A bike shop wouldn't tolerate having to do that much work to simply unpackage a new bike.

I have had a chance to sleep on it and I don't feel any better. It is a used bike, 1996, a Trek 5200 OCLV Full Carbon. It makes me mad that such a nice bike that had been taken care of for all those years is now looking a lot worse then it should. I imagine I will try to rub out all of the marks that I can and maybe strip off the decal. Anyone have a suggestion for filling the scratches?

That's the way it is supposed to be. If you buy a bike from a private party they should go above and beyond to make sure you get what you paid for by protecting your investment. Packaging is just a little bit of their time, not a lot in materials.

That's the way it is supposed to be. If you buy a bike from a private party they should go above and beyond to make sure you get what you paid for by protecting your investment. Packaging is just a little bit of their time, not a lot in materials.

JMT

Why should an individual be held to a higher level of accountability than a multi-million dollar corporation? Why is a used bike more precious than a new bike? If it is a museum piece, then the expectations are indeed higher. Did the bike cost more than a comparable new bike? If not, why does it demand a higher level of packaging?

If the packaging was as good as a new bike would be, then that doesn't mean that you should eat the loss, it means it is a problem with the shipping company... While UPS is going to make a claim of inadequate packaging, that is almost a form letter. The bottom line is if the bike/frame was packaged as well as a new bike manufacturer packs them, the seller has met the industry standard expectation of proper packaging.

I would go after the deep pockets instead of someone who did an adequate job. I don't think the seller is to blame just because he didn't package the bike to survive a blitzkrieg. I see going after the seller as taking the easy way out. Of course, I do seem to recall that it is the seller's responsibility to file a claim, so you probably need to work through the seller, but let him decide whether it is his fault or UPS....

If the bike wasn't packaged as well as a new bike, then that is a different story in my mind.

I do hope you get compensation for the bike, as that is what is fair... I just don't think the seller is automatically at fault for not using excessive protection measures. And even though they are a pain to unpack, I do appreciate the extra packaging when it is used, I just don't set that as the expectation.

I imagine I will try to rub out all of the marks that I can and maybe strip off the decal. Anyone have a suggestion for filling the scratches?

If the damage is any more than just the surface, and the worst one lookks potentially worse, I have heard it is a good thing to have CF frames checked by professionals.

Also, if the decals are under clear coat, you won't be able to remove them without leaving an ugly outline in the clear coat where the decal used to be... and even that would be a pain to do. You should be able to tell if the decal is under clear coat by looking at where the decals are screwed up. And my guess is that they are under clear coat.

Disclaimer: I worked loading trucks for UPS for 3-1/2 years when I was in college. I'm not defending UPS, I've seen them mangle perfectly packaged parcels. I know they're not the gentlest of shipping companies. I'm just sharing what I know about the claims process.

Your only recourse is to go after the shipper not UPS. UPS's claim policy states that the outer packaging on all parcels must have a certain burst stregnth in order to be eligible for a claim. Most boxes don't meet that criteria.

I suspect it was packaged as well as a new bike is packaged, assuming it had protection against the dropouts gerring crushed...

I suspect that people that ship bikes do a lot more "extras" in packaging than the manufacturers.

So now we have two things that we disagree about.

It's actually pretty hard to pack a bike as well as the factories do. The first trick is just finding a bike box that's the right size. Most aftermarket packers use a bridge between the fork blades, but hardly anybody uses the little plastic mushrooms over the axle ends. Even the gear that the bike's in when it gets packed in the box is significant. The big cog on the back tucks the derailleur farther in away from danger.

During the time that I owned my own bike shop I had over 1,000 bikes shipped to me via UPS. Know how many damage claims I had? Zero, Zip, Nada, Not-a-One. There is a reason for every little bit and piece of packing the factories use when they pack new bikes. Leave off any of it and take your chances.

I'd love to see the packing that can take a forklift being driven over the box.

Why should an individual be held to a higher level of accountability than a multi-million dollar corporation? Why is a used bike more precious than a new bike?

Because a corporation will just write it off and send another one. An individual can't do that because he doesn't HAVE another one. We write off stuff that is damaged in shipping all the time - depending on the place supplying it, we either return it or trash it.

The suppliers can't protect them enough for every eventuality, so accept that sometimes they'll get damaged when some loader puts something heavier on top of it and crushes it.

I may as well weigh in. Honestly, what I see in the photos looks like damage from a rider who didn't care for his bike a whole lot. That is, it looks like damage done prior to the sale and shipment. There's touch-up paint on the tube damage. (Unless OP put it on already). I just think the seller didn't disclose the extent of the chips and scratches to the buyer. Not uncommon. Granted, certainly NOT the best packing job I've seen. The box definitely did sustain some damage. Some of the marks may be due to poor packing. I think the OP was seriously misled.

I too question the condition of the bike before it was shipped. It doesn't look like all of those scratches are in a place that the wheel could reach.

Originally Posted by Wordbiker

I'd love to see the packing that can take a forklift being driven over the box.

Yes, it happened. The tire marks were very distinct.

Even the small electric pallet jacks weigh several hundred pounds, if not more than half a ton. If a fork lift ran over that box, that frame would be severely bent or if carbon fiber, broken into many pieces. And all four sides of the box- the small flaps- would be visibly creased from where they collapsed from the weight. You've never seen the damage a fork lift would cause to a cardboard box if you think that's what happened.

Even if someone at UPS DID accidently run over this box, it would have been brought into the claims center to be processed for compensation. I've seen package trucks accidently back over boxes. I've run stuff over. As long as you fess up and it's not a recurring issue, it's not a big deal with management, since it can happen given that their employees are human and fallible. It's a bigger deal if you hide the fact that you knowingly damaged a package. Plus UPS doesn't pay the claim, they're insurer does.

I've seen boxes collapsed like this before. The box was crushed from having been stacked in a trailer with other boxes on top of it. The weight of the other boxes compressed the center of this box down and forced the back wheel to pentetrate the box. If the backwheel had been properly wrapped, that wouldn't have happened. That's the reason UPS requires a minimum crush stregnth in order for packages.

The discoloration is either from the rubber on the belts or one of the metal slides that are located throughtout the conveyor belt system. The belts are often lubricated with silicon spray to lower the friction between the boxes on the belt and the belt itself. That spray will leave a dirt stain like you see on this box, sort of looks like a newsprint stain.

UPS doesn't use forklifts for very much in regards to small parcel shipping. Since the trailers that the small parcells are loaded on don't have any pallets in them. They are stacked floor to ceiling with loose packages. The trucks are loaded by hand and will be unloaded by hand. The average package handler will handle over 1200 pieces in one four hour shift and that's just the average, I knew people that loaded up to 2000 pieces in four hours. It's physically demanding work, but it'll keep you fit.

99% of the small parcels are moved by hand and an extensive system of conveyor belts. The stuff that isn't are the packages that are pre-skidded and overweight packages. They are moved by electric carts similiar to what the ground support people at an airport use to move luggage from a plane to a terminal. Those carts are so low to the ground they can't run a box over. They'd just push it along. You don't see full skids come through UPS. They're not known as a bulk carrier.

Also, the blue collar UPS employees are Teamsters, the union would require one specific person to be designated as the fork lift driver with no other repsonsibilities. I've seen drivers file a grievance because package handlers were moving trucks and they're not paid to move trucks. The drivers won the grievance. And UPS would never agree to pay someone to just sit around on a fork lift for four hours.